Choice of Weapons
by seori
Summary: An encounter between the two ex-Titan birds, set a few years later. Raven has succumbed to the dark, Robin... well, Robin is Robin.


**Summary:** An encounter between the two ex-Titan birds, set a few years later. Raven has succumbed to the dark, Robin... well, Robin is Robin.

**Disclaimer: **Teen Titans aren't mine!

**Notes:** All right, so I've been a (secret) fan of Teen Titans ever since I discovered it two years ago, but this is my first fanfiction on it. Not entirely sure what I was aiming for here, so please don't flame me if you don't understand things!

**- Choice of Weapons -**

- by seori -

The sound of clocks filled her. The tick-tock of the gears around her enveloped her as the building swayed. Two minutes more, and she would escape unharmed. Just two minutes.

Things, however, didn't seem like they would turn out as she willed them to. Even as she watched the gears crash to the concrete floor beneath, he stalked her, eyes glittering like reflections off the scales of Justice. He would get her this time, unless she acted now.

She threw down her mask, revealing her face. It fell through the holes in the bridge and fluttered towards the chaos below. From now, it was personal. "Your choice of weapons, hun. Just as always."

"You'll go down this time. I swear it."

"Hurry up, or I'm choosing." She watched him as he leapt onto the bridge, clothes wet with the river water. Just something to remember her by. He stepped closer, returning her gaze warily, wearily.

"This has gone on for far too long. Step away from the edge of the bridge and come closer. I just want to talk."

"I'm not a spooked bird, _Robin_, nor am I an idiot. Choose your weapon or I'm going." She climbed over the railing, one arm hooked through the balustrade, the other dangling playfully.

"Don't go, Rae." It was the first time he'd called her name in three years. "Raven, please. Climb back over."

She eyed him, wondering if it was all a show; a play, like they used to watch all those years ago. "Why?"

"Because," he replied, "I'll let you go. I'll set you free."

"Kill me, you mean. Or hand me over to the police."

"No, I mean it. I'll let you go. I can't hunt you like this; it hurts." He stepped closer, only to jump back as she unhooked the arm and stood on the edge of the bottom rail, balancing carefully. She could feel the repeated vibrations as the building threatened to collapse around them.

"Lies." She shook her hair away from her face. "All lies, Robin. They were always lies."

"Rae. I'm being honest. No lies." _Look into my eyes and tell me what you see,_ he meant.

So she looked.

"I don't know what I'm seeing." And yet, she jumped over the railing, crossing the space between them in three strides, even closer.

"Trust me. It's been too long."

She stopped in front of him, breathing in his muted scent, wrapping her arms around him. She felt his breathing, his pulse, his heartbeat, even the slight shivering from the cold. They hadn't been this close since that time.

That time?

Ah, she was growing weak. That, then, must have been the numbness in her heart, the longing in her eyes. She had grown weak, as simple as that.

That time.

There was no such thing.

And yet –

He was closer, had stepped into her comfort zone, much too close. Another sign of her weakness right there.

A cold breeze against her neck. "Do you remember?"

"No." It had been all too abrupt, all too sudden. She had been taken by surprise – but as always, she blamed it on that weakness.

It had all begun when –

"No, I don't remember." She wouldn't remember, tried not to. It just _hurt_, that was all. But again, that was a weakness.

How had the time passed? Two minutes had disappeared into one, collapsed into nothing more than thirty seconds.

"I do." In other circumstances, she would have laughed at him. Those two words, in a different situation – no, but no, and no. It wouldn't have worked, would it? It would never have worked. It would have only led to... well, this.

Twenty seconds. Time had flown by.

"Let me go." Her voice was quiet, even demure. "Let me go, please."

"Raven never begs," was his reply, "You said. Raven never begs. This isn't Raven."

"Kid yourself all you like. I've changed, and so have you."

She could feel him breathing, more settled than before, just as she had seen him in her dreams. Raven the dark, Raven the mysterious, Raven the misunderstood. How could he have ever said he had loved her? He didn't, couldn't... wouldn't. Wouldn't love her any more, now that she had changed. He had loved the old Raven, the person she no longer had the freedom to be.

Ten seconds.

"Let me _go._" She hadn't noticed the scar on his arm, right _there_, and found herself wondering...

"No." He took her hand. "Don't do this to me, Rae. Don't make me do it."

"Do what exactly? I don't recall myself –" The building shook convulsively, breaking free of its bonds. She cursed herself silently; she had forgotten, had become weak. "You need to get out."

"With you."

"Not with me."

"With you." He took her wrist, shackling it to his belt. "I won't leave without you."

"I'm neither crazy nor stupid, Robin."

"But you're dangerous." He was dragging her along now, unceremoniously. It was more than she could have hoped for, really – what else could a high-profile ex-heroine-turned-criminal expect? "And – I love you. Still."

And – there was his weakness, right there.

- end -


End file.
